


Derelict

by Spi11ed_Ink



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Cyan is an asshole, Mentions of past child abuse, Other, Pink is stressed af, a bean with PTSD, and past relationship abuse, but a bean all the same, everyone is a bean, i will make sure of that, orange white and purple are the holy trinity of mothering, prepare for death, you will cry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:08:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27404803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spi11ed_Ink/pseuds/Spi11ed_Ink
Summary: With their ship crashed on an unknown planet, that planet being cold as hell, and one of their reactors unusable, it seems that their week couldn't possibly get any worse.Oh, if they only know what this planet had in store for them.(please be gentle this is my first work on this site and I am still trying to figure out how everything works)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter One

_ Planetary Location: Unknown _

_ Time: 17:50 _

It had been one hell of a week. First their ship had crashed, next thing they knew everyone was stranded on an unknown planet. Good thing it was cold as hell out. 

A lone figure trudged through what could only be described as a hailstorm, every step seeming like a mile because of the harsh wind. His outersuit was a bright red, a color that stood out well against the storm of white. He stopped in his tracks and sighed, the wind making their voice nearly inaudible. 

“Doesn’t look like this storm’s going to ease up anytime soon.” He mumbled to himself, a rogue ‘hm?’ escaping when a chime rang out from his hip. He clicked his tongue, muttering a quick ‘of course’ before pocketing the device and trudging further through the snow. The white was growing ever thicker, the fat snowflakes obscuring his vision. Before he could so much as stop, he slid from a small ledge, a curse escaping his lips as he slammed, face first, into the snow-covered ground. Muttering unkind things under his breath, the suited figure stood, dusted the snow from his front, and huffed. 

He approached a metal structure, soft cursing being whipped away by the wind. Not that anyone else on the now derelict ship would want to come out in this weather anyways. The suited figure tapped a few things into a keypad, but to no avail. The structure remained dormant, coated in a thin layer of ice. He wiped off the screen, seeing a brief warning before the machinery seized and flickered off. 

“Damn. Could this get any worse?” 

The figure shook his helmeted head and sighed, trudging back through the already disappearing path he had carved into the thick snow, staring at the ledge he had fallen from and climbing it with relative ease despite the slick rock. When he entered the ship, a voice caught his attention.

“Red.” He jumped before he could stop.

“Shit, Blue! You can’t just appear like that!”

“Apologies.” Red wasn’t sure if they meant it or not. “Figure out what was wrong with that node?” ‘Red,’ so called because of his suit color, shook his head dejectedly. Not many people used names because of the mixed crew. Some names were near impossible to pronounce in alien languages, so they had all decided to use suit colors instead, the translators seemed to pick those up better anyways. 

“Fuckin’ thing is already covered in ice. No way we’re getting out of here until this planet is done throwing ice our way.” Red heaved a sigh and thudded to the floor next to the now shut airlock. At least it was warmer in here without the howling wind. 

“Cap isn’t going to be happy about that.” The voice rumbled, the dimmed lights reflecting off of their navy suit. “Though I suppose with the list of other things going wrong it won’t be much to add.” 

“You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I have to be complacent with it, Blue.” 

They chuckled, light gleaming off of their darkened visor. “I wasn’t saying that. You never answered my question though.” A thump sounded and Blue was sitting next to him. 

“I think it’s something to do with the wiring. But I can’t fix it myself and Black is busy trying to fix these damned lights.” 

“I can help you out. I’ve worked with basic electronics in my school days.” 

Red nearly sagged in relief. One less thing on his plate to worry about. “I’d appreciate it, Blue.” 

“Not an issue. I’ve already finished some calculations and there isn’t much use for a reactor specialist on a downed ship.” Blue gave a humorless chuckle before getting to their feet. Red followed suit and sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day while he opened the airlock once again. 

“Fuck.” Blue hissed. “Lime wasn’t kidding when she said it was cold as shit out.” 

“I’m just glad we survived the crash. Reactor blows usually don’t go this well.” Red took the lead and kicked aside the half foot wall of snow that was growing ever higher. 

“They almost never do. I personally haven’t been witness to one, but I heard Forest saw some shit back in their day.” 

“Really? Doesn’t seem too keen on gabbing about it so it must’ve been bad.” 

“Real bad. Entire crew ‘cept him KIA bad.” 

“No shit?” Red pushed the thin layer of snow from around the base of the node and sat down. “Node’s here. Can’t get a good read without all three up.” Blue took a seat about a foot away and crossed their legs. 

“Yeah. Told me about it when we both had a few too many. Probably would’ve never discussed it any other way. Feel bad for the guy. Poor bastard still has nightmares about it. Sleep walks in ‘em too.” 

“He talked with Purple about it? May not be official, but some of its secondary drivers have psych knowledge. Could be worth talking it out.” Red grabbed a screwdriver from his belt and started to chip the ice away from the bottom panel. 

“I think he should go to Purple on his own time. If we force ‘im to do it no good will come from it.” Red hummed as they passed the now loose screws to Blue. 

“True, but no need to suffer for longer than you need, right?” 

Blue offered no response as Red hefted the panel from the node and placed it off to the side. “Ah shit.” Red huffed. “Wires’re fucked.” He brushed a few to the side and dislodged a few icicles in the process. “Nothing’s going to work in this mess. Too cold for even the electronics to work.” 

“Any way that knocking the ice off will help?” 

“For a few hours at most, but the weather’ll just seize it again. But we need those readings so I suppose I’ll have to brush it off every once in a while.” Red grabbed a few of the wires and shook some of the ice from them, digging further into the node’s inner mechanisms while handing Blue some to hold out of the way. It took entirely too long for the payoff, but at least the screen flickered back to life. 

_ Warning: temperature out of efficient operating range. Zone is 100C to -80C. Core temperature approaching negative threshold. Active time estimated before shutdown: 4 hours. _

Red sighed. “It’ll be night by then.” He grunted as he hefted the panel back over the wiring, Blue handing the screws back to be resecured. Red was thankful for their presence, even if it was only to hold wires and keep him from having to dig around in the snow for the screws. Once finished, both stood and headed back to the disabled ship in general silence, the only words exchanged being about how the wind seemed to be getting worse. 

The relief from the seemingly perpetual wind was immediate.The ship may be running on reserve power, but at least what little warmth it was generating kept them all from freezing to death. Barely. 

“I’m off to check on Black. See if he needs any help.” Blue nodded from his left and turned on their heel, heading off into the dimly lit hallways with only a word of farewell. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of the first chapter! :D


	2. Chapter Two

_ Planetary Position: Unknown _

_ Time: 03:13 _

“Fuck!” The captain’s voice rang around the darkened cafeteria, the only lighting being from the red flood light above the table in the center of the cafeteria. He slammed his datapad onto the table, the screen flickering for an instant before stabilizing; it was a miracle the thing wasn’t broken. Red saw Brown visibly recoil from the volume of the captain’s voice, three eyes flickering momentarily before turning to their hands. The captain took a few audible breaths before resting his hands on the table, shoulders tense, before glowering at every one of them. “Which one of you did I assign to monitor the reactor levels?” His words were slow, venomous. Everyone at the table knew who was assigned to the reactor, and most eyes flicked over to Blue before going back to the enraged captain. 

Blue, never one to skirt around the point, responded in a clipped manner. “The levels were stable the last time I checked, captain. I made sure an alarm would sound were they to go critical when I was resting.” 

The captain’s aqua eyes narrowed behind his visor, blazing bright with fury. “Then would you care to explain to me why our other reactor blew?”

“The levels were critical when I woke up from said alarm. I attempted to rectify the issue, but it was too late. I’m afraid there wasn’t anything anyone -myself included- could have done even if I did stay up to monitor them.” 

A breath that sounded an awful lot like a hiss escaped the captain’s mouth as he grabbed the datapad from the table. “Isn’t that just  _ fucking _ wonderful?” He growled before glancing around the table. “Now that we have no reliable source of power,” here he glanced at Blue, “that will be our first priority. I don’t give a damn if it's solar, wind, or geothermal, we need at least the damned lights working by morning.” He waved a hand in dismissal before turning heel and stalking down the now dimly lit hallway, pink outersuit tinged red from the lighting. 

Purple immediately stood from the table and went the same way as the captain, a short, snipped conversation taking place from somewhere down the hall. The A.I. returned a few moments later, a conflicted look on its display. 

“The hell is the cap’s problem today?” Cyan broke the uncomfortable silence that fell over the table. “Never seen him that angry before. Disappointed, sure, but that was… new.” Cyan made a point to look over at Red. A few of the others did the same, waiting for a response. As he was the one who was on the crew the longest, most turned to him when their captain's behavior mystified them.

“He’s no doubt worried. Believe it or not he actually cares about the crew’s safety. He may be a bit of a bastard about it, but he still cares. This is probably taking a toll on him. We’re in unknown territory and everything’s just gone so… haywire.” 

“The captain is showing signs of severe sleep deprivation along with the beginnings of auditory and visual hallucinations from said deprivation. Higher blood pressure, irritability, and lowered efficiency on the ship.” Purple chimed in. “We recommended he get sleep, but, as you no doubt heard, he was against such a recommendation.” 

“Damn.” Cyan muttered before picking at one of their gloves. 

“Purple, if you would send me your preliminary assessment presently so I may speak with our captain about his destructive behaviors?” White stood from where he was sitting at the end of a bench, an irritated edge to his voice. Purple offered a brief nod before a chime rang out from where White was now standing. “I recommend we all get to work on fixing the lights before Pink has a conniption. I will join shortly.” There were a few nods as White strode down the hallway that led to the cockpit, the others gathered looked around for a few moments before gradually filing out of the cafeteria and to various parts of the ship. How they would hope to get power with a storm this bad was a mystery, but someone was bound to have a bright idea. 

“Purple.” Red walked up to the A.I. as it was headed towards the reactor, having to crane his neck slightly to look it in the eyes. 

“Yes?” It replied in a surprisingly emotive voice. It still had a robotic edge to it, especially when it was angry, but it worked well enough. 

“Can you keep me updated on the captain please? I told the stubborn jackass to get some rest, but we all see how well that worked out.” 

“We were planning on keeping you updated considering the friendship between the two of you. If he doesn’t listen to White, we are afraid we may have to ask you to try and convince him to take a break. This is not optimal, but it may have to happen.” 

“Here’s hoping I don’t have to yell at him.” Red sighed before bidding the A.I. farewell and heading towards the breaker room. Black was sitting down on the floor, a small suited figure propped up against the wall, no doubt sleeping. 

“Red.” Black greeted with a bob of the head, his antennae glowing a slight blue-grey at his understandable exhaustion. 

“Thanks for watching Cherry for me. Anything you need help with here?” Black glanced over at the small figure before looking back up at him. 

“I could use about two extra pairs of hands right now. This wiring is fucked seven different ways, and I am not sure if any of it is salvageable.” Red hummed before clipping a flashlight to his shoulder. 

“I may not have four hands, but two is better than none. Just give me a moment to get Cherry to bed and I’ll see what I can do.” Black nodded before turning back to his work, antennae twitching slightly. Red crouched down in front of the small suited figure and picked them up, resting them on his hip and wrapping an arm around their back. Immediately, the child wrapped their arms around his neck, blinking open pale pink eyes.  _ They look so much like hers _ . He mused, shaking the thought away before bitterness consumed his thoughts. “Sleep, Cher, Pa’s taking you to the MedBay.” They squeezed his neck tighter, burying their helmet into his neck. “Don’t worry, there’s light in there too.” He patted their back gently, feeling them relax. 

It took him a few moments to wind through the hallways to the MedBay, but he found it lit up with a small lantern. White was grumbling to himself while he poured over a small robot that appeared to be for cleaning. 

“Red,” He greeted without turning around. 

“Doc.” Red responded before placing Cherry down on one of the beds closer to the wall. Cherry made an alarmed sound when he turned to leave. Red sat on the bed next to them and wrapped an arm around them. “Don’t worry; I’ll be back soon, Cher.” They made another sound. 

“Ma,” They said, their voice shaking to the point where anyone else wouldn’t be able to understand it. Red instinctively held them tighter to his side, his shoulders tensing at the name. Even after all this, they still called her that.  _ She doesn’t deserve the honor.  _ He turned to look at Cherry, who was shivering. 

“Don’t worry, Cher, she’s not here.” The child pointed to a dark corner, a noise of distress escaping them as they shrank further into his side. 

“You had another nightmare, didn’t you?” He asked gently, feeling his heart drop when their tiny helmet bobbed up and down. “Do you want me to stay?” Their head bobbed again. He sent Black a quick message explaining the situation before hopping to the floor and tucking Cherry in with the thin sheet that was on the bed. He pulled up one of the padded stools and sat down, hoping his presence was at least comforting to the child. It seemed to be the case, as their shivering soon halted and their breathing evened out. 

“Another nightmare?” White questioned over his shoulder when Cherry had fallen asleep. 

Red looked over at the doctor, humming as a response. “Cherry had a… rough first few years.” 

“It wasn’t only them, was it?” Red jumped at the sudden proximity, instinctively wheeling the stool to better shield Cherry from a potential threat. White made a sound like he just confirmed a suspicion. “Don’t think I didn’t see the implants when you were last checked, Red. Speaking of,” The doctor continued like he was lecturing a child, “you need to take much better care of them. I should know.” The doctor flexed his right hand, several squeaks sounding even through the thick suit gloves. It wasn’t a secret that the doctor was probably more machine than human at this point; their robotics whirred softly every with every move he made. 

Red jumped when a sudden hand was on his right right shoulder. “You may be able to hide your troubles from everyone else, even Pink,” his voice wasn’t hostile, the opposite, in fact, “but you cannot hide them from me. I understand more than you may think.”

Red flinched slightly when the doctor’s hand tightened on his shoulder, biting his lip almost to the point it bled. “Forgive me if I don’t open up about it immediately. It’s personal.” He growled a bit more venomously than he intended. 

The doctor didn’t seem to care about his tone, and answered like Red hadn’t snapped at him. “I realize that. What I’m trying to say is that you can talk to me about it if you need to.” 

Red didn’t respond, pondering on if he should just rip off the bandage now because the doctor was persistent if anything else. He didn’t realize he had started to grip one of the bars on the bed so hard it started to warp slightly. The doctor obviously noticed his reaction. 

“I’m not demanding an answer now, Red. I’m letting you know that you don’t need to suffer in silence.” Red inhaled deeply before sighing. White offered no response other than lightly squeezing his shoulder and walking back to the robot. “When you are ready,” his voice was now casual, like nothing had happened, “I’m afraid our captain may need a few harsh words said to him.”

“Still not sleeping?” Red sighed. Pink’s tenacity was a plus most of the time. In sticky situations it has saved their tail more times than not. Now, however, it was becoming a bit of a problem. 

“I think we softened him up for you, just give him one more push and he should listen.” White mumbled something to himself about rusted joints before smacking the back of his robotic hand against the table. 

“I’ll go talk to him. Could you ping me if Cher wakes up before morning?” The doctor offered a nod in response before Red stood from his seat and wound his way to the cockpit. He knew the captain would be there; he had been there nearly all hours for the past week, desperately trying to contact someone to help. The communications had fared about as well as the nodes in the cold, only a few chopped words making their way through. 

“I know what you are going to say, so save your breath.” The captain hadn’t moved from his spot in front of the now deactivated radio. He was seated, back turned to the doorway, with his head resting in his hands. “I will rest when I feel it is time to rest.” 

“How do you know I’m here to lecture you? I could be saying that I found a way to power the ship for all you know.” Pink glanced over his shoulder at that. 

“Did you?”

“No, I’m here to lecture you.” A soft growl sounded. 

“White sent you, didn’t he?” 

Red took the other remaining seat at the communications table, ignoring the damn near predatory way Pink’s eyes followed him. “He did. You know,” Pink shot him a warning glare, “you are more stubborn than Cyan.” He could see the frown through the tinted visor, eyes narrowing dangerously. 

“Cyan doesn’t have twelve other people to worry about.” Pink shot back.  _ This is going to be more difficult than expected. He’s really worked up about this. _

“Which makes you being practically dead on your feet an even worse thing.” 

“I have had plenty of rest.” Pink shot back. 

“Lie to them all you want, but don’t you lie to me, Pink.” Red snapped with an edge that surprised even him. The last time they argued like this was longer ago than he could remember. Red stood, knowing that nothing else would become of this conversation. He caught a troubled look from the captain before he exited, hesitating at the door frame. “Please, just-” He sighed. “We need you  _ alive _ if we’re going to make it out of here.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day?? This is much better than what I usually am able to do. *glances over to that one story on Tumblr I haven't updated in a while*


	3. Chapter 3

_ Planetary Position: Unknown _

_ Time: 07:42 _

_ Red. Red was all they could see. It was like an ocean. It was thick, almost like syrup. Sticky. The stench of metal stung their nostrils. They glanced down at their appendages. Shifting. Angry.  _

_ Hungry. _

_ They squirmed, demanding more red. Demanding more delightful screaming. It was like music to their ears. The monster was more than happy to oblige them. Only when there were no more moving animals was the monster satisfied. And there it sat, waiting. Pondering what to do in between killing sprees. Its appendages roared for blood, but there was none to be shed.  _

_ Was this all there was? Blind rage and blood? _

_ Of course! That was the only thing it and the others had ever known. If they got too bored, they often killed each other just to satiate their bloodlust. There was nothing without it!  _

“Hey!” Pink bolted to his feet, lashing out at whatever had touched him and ending up on the floor. “Chill the fuck out, Cap, it’s me!” Cyan gripped his shoulders tightly. Pink blinked several times, panting and bristling like some cornered animal. “Fuck, you must have been out of it.” They grunted. 

Pink blinked several more times, not registering what the gunman had said, his vision still tinted a red after waking. “What time is it?” He grumbled, slapping his hand down on the desk and pulling himself off of the floor. 

“Sometime around eight last I checked. Blue wanted to see you. Sounded important.” Pink wiped a hand across his visor and grumbled something even he didn’t understand before grabbing his datapad. “Just don’t fall asleep while walking down there, Cap.” Cyan clapped his shoulder before heading off in the direction of the armory. Pink let out a hiss at the gunman, who laughed as they continued down the hall, and narrowed his eyes at the flood lights. 

Red.

It did absolutely nothing to help him forget that atrocity of a nap when the damned color was practically everywhere. Pink passed by the MedBay to the reactor and caught a glance from White. 

“You sleep?” The only response the doctor got was a half-hearted grumble before Pink shuffled down the hallway. The reactor was on the opposite side of where he had quite literally fallen asleep, so by the time he arrived the remnants of whatever the fuck his subconscious had drummed up for him had worn off. 

“Blue?” He called, not even close to be in a mood to search for the reactor specialist. Lucky for him, the blue-clad specialist popped their head from behind one of the many tubes that ran through the center of the floor and along the walls. Blue stood there for a moment, looking like they were contemplating something before locking their ruby eyes on him. Silence permeated the area for a few beats before Pink cleared his throat. “Cyan said you wanted to see me.” Blue waved their hand for him to follow. 

“I may have found a way to power the ship.” Their voice was strained, like they hadn’t slept. They wouldn’t be the first. 

“Do tell.” Pink responded as Blue slowed to a stop in front of one of the two branches to the reactor. 

“The tech around the reactor may have been blown up beyond salvaging,” this Pink flinched at, “but the core is still fairly intact.” 

“You’re telling me you want to mess around with practically a thermonuclear bomb?” Pink raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s all we have if we don’t want to freeze to death in this hellscape. I know what I am doing, Captain, if that is what you are worried about.” Pink hesitated, looking at the badly fried wiring. The reactor’s core was still pulsating its pale blue light, but there was  _ something _ about the situation that made his gut twist. 

“And the other reactor?” Pink questioned. “One would be enough to have basic functionality.” 

“The other one is even more fucked than this one.” Blue glanced over to the other reactor, which was blackened with huge tears in the metalworking. Wires actively sparked and fizzled, the remains of the power desperately trying to work their way into the wiring to where they were supposed to go. “Believe me if we had two cores that would be damned near a miracle, but this is all we have for the time being.” 

“Fine.” Pink sighed, the uneasy feeling not doing anything for his already sour mood. “Get Red to help you if you need it. I don’t want to add a bomb to the list of things to worry about.” Pink turned to leave the reactor, but froze completely when a hand slammed down onto his shoulder. His muscles tensed, shuddering at the contact. Blue’s fingers damn near dug into his suit. Pink turned to look over his shoulder, seeing Blue’s eyes blazing with some unknown emotion. 

“I see the skepticism in your eyes, Pink. Despite your nature, you don’t hide it very well.” 

Pink’s teeth audibly ground together. “What are you trying to say to me, Blue?” He turned, his left hand prying Blue’s off of his shoulder. “I don’t give a damn what you think about my ‘nature’ just do your job so we don’t freeze to death like you said.” Pink made sure to grip their hand almost painfully hard for a moment more as a warning before releasing them. 

Pink was well aware of the glare that followed him as he left the reactor to check in with everyone else. If they had a better idea, he was all for it. Halfway through winding his way through the ship, another presence seemed to be following him. Pink glanced back, halfway convinced it was Blue, but he saw nothing until he turned his eyes to the floor. 

“Cherry?” He questioned the child, knowing well that their father wouldn’t take kindly to them wandering around the ship in this particular situation. Cherry looked up at him, tilting their head in confusion. Pink sighed. “You thought I was your father again, didn’t you?” Cherry squeaked out an embarrassed noise before wringing their hands together nervously. Pink crouched down to their level, seeing their pale pink eyes dart around the darkened hallway. The poor thing was colorblind and obviously distressed about their mistake even though it has happened multiple times. Cherry was well-known to follow him, Lime, and Forest around unintentionally. “Well let’s get you back to the MedBay then.” Pink made to scoop up the child, but paused when they shook their head. “What’s the matter?” 

Cherry made several gestures with their arms before pausing when they saw that Pink had no earthly idea what they were trying to say. Cherry instead took out a small stack of cards from one of their pockets and flipped through them until finding the one they were looking for. 

_ Scared. _

“Scared?” Pink said aloud, glancing around the hallway. “Of what?” 

_ Monster. _

Pink tilted his head at that. He knew children had imaginations, but had no clue how to calm the child down. The monsters they see are real enough to them even if nobody else believes them. “Do you want me to take you to Red?” He asked, hoping their father would have a better idea on how to handle their fear than he did. Cherry shook their head. 

_ Busy. _

“Okay then, do you want to stick with me?” Cherry stayed still for a few moments before nodding. Pink made to stand, but the child clearly had other plans, latching firmly onto his torso. He momentarily teetered, nearly falling onto his back, before stabilizing.  _ Very well then. _ A flash of a smile crossed under his visor before he adjusted the child so they weren’t at risk of making him topple over. 

Pink had made it the rest of the way around the ship and was making his way back up to the cockpit when a chime rang from his hip. Seeing as he had no free hand unless he wanted to drop Cherry, who looked to be asleep, he waited until he was seated to open his datapad. It was from Red, asking if he had seen Cherry. Pink sent a quick reply before turning back to the computers in front of him. It wasn’t long before Red was there. Cherry hopped down from his leg, immediately latching on to their father while waving to him. 

“You should see if you can get White to modify their visor.” Pink stated casually. There was an audible ‘huh’ from Red. “They’re colorblind. You don’t want them to follow around the wrong person, Red.” 

“I didn’t know that was a thing that could be done. I’ll look into it. Thanks for looking after them.” Cherry tugged on Red’s pant leg, pointing at him and giving their father a pointed look that Pink wouldn’t expect from a child. Red sighed. “Cherry heard that we argued and wanted me to apologize.” Pink raised an eyebrow at that.

“Mean.” Cherry pouted, only getting a pat on the head and a tired chuckle as a response from Red. 

“I’m sorry for yelling at you, Cap. We’re all exhausted and more than anxious.”

Pink pinched where his nose would be behind his visor, noting that Cherry seemed very anxious at his movements. He sighed. “You don’t need to apologize, Red." Cherry visibly relaxed when they heard he was calm, "I did sleep, albeit it wasn’t a very restful one. We’ve all been having a rough time in our own different ways.” 

Red chuckled. “Looking after everyone?” 

Pink sighed, shaking his head. “If it were only that.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down! Don't worry, things will pick up soon enough!  
> Red thinks Pink hates it when Cherry follows him around accidentally, but what he doesn't know is that Pink secretly is very happy that Cherry feels safe enough around him to follow him.  
> Also thank you guys for the kudos! I wasn't expecting this many!


	4. Chapter 4

_ Planetary Position: Unknown _

_ Time: 13:42 _

Though it was barely past noon in standard time, the sun was already setting and the air temperature was steadily dropping. Not that it was a huge surprise. Brown sighed as they heard distant bickering from Red and Blue on how the reactor core should be wired back to the ship. The two had been working practically non-stop since that morning to get the ship to at least generate some form of warmth before night fell. They saw Pink lingering around the area throughout the day, not even wanting to fathom everything that had been going through the captain’s mind. 

“The nodes acting up again?” Brown, even though they had sensed another presence, jumped at the sudden noise. They glanced down to their station, narrowing their eyes when they saw it still had no power, and huffed. “I see. It was about time to knock the ice off again regardless; want to come with to take a break from them?” Black tilted his head in the direction of the reactor and Brown thought about the offer for a few moments before nodding. 

The pair walked down the hall, Black’s antennae brightening when a particularly colorful curse drifted from the reactor. 

“Fucking shit!” Red’s voice was pained and a rather loud crackle of electricity hinted to why, “Damned thing.” He muttered. Brown nearly walked into Black when he stopped they were so focused on the distant cacophony of sounds. They skated to a halt about a foot behind the intern, tense as he opened the airlock. A blast of cold air made even Brown’s core recoil. They both somewhat reluctantly stepped out into the howling wind and trudged their way to the first node. The snow was more than enough company for Brown, though they could practically  _ feel _ Black’s curiosity. 

“You don’t speak much.” It wasn’t an accusation, rather a question of sorts. “I’m unsure if it is a Shanyr thing; I admittedly haven’t had much experience with your people.” The pair paused at the ledge of a small drop that guarded the first node. Black glanced over their way and Brown blinked once. They raised their arms in what looked like it was going to be a shrug, but moved their hands in a complex series of gestures. It was a standard form of sign language, adjusted for those who had less fingers than others, but it was easy enough to understand if one studied the language. Most people had to take at least the basics in schooling when their people had emerged when it had before been optional. 

_ Translators have trouble picking up our speech, and my people use much more than just sound to communicate, which is a problem for translation. It is difficult to express everything we want to express, so that is why we sound flat to the translators.  _

Black stayed silent for a few moments, antennae flickering through several different shades of pale green before he nodded slowly. “I suppose that makes sense.” They both carefully hopped down the ledge, Black leading the way to the first node, pausing when Brown made to communicate. 

_ You would be one of the few to understand. Shanyr do not use our voices around others often for fear of misunderstandings among various other safety and PR reasons.  _

“That’s right, you guys are still fairly new.” Black paused for a few moments to brush off the screen, only to find it flickering with the same warning that had persisted for the last few days. “You mentioned safety reasons? I wasn’t aware you guys were any more dangerous than, well, anyone else could be.” 

_ Shanyr are dangerous, but in a different way. Our voices have measurable psychological and physical effects on other races. Whether they are positive or not depends on the Shanyr’s tone. There have been some… rather interesting effects we have had on other people.  _ Brown paused momentarily, remembering the sheer embarrassment their people must have felt when an important member of galactic politics had a rather… publicly inappropriate reaction to a very important Shanyr politician’s true voice. It was completely out of the poor man’s hands, but he no doubt received a stern talking to from his superiors, even though neither side could have anticipated the effects of a Shanyr’s true voice on different species.  _ Most of us adopted Galactic Standard Sign to communicate, but our people are working on a translator that doesn’t have as many… incidents when a Shanyr wants to actually speak.  _

Black’s antennae faded to a rather pleasant shade of pale yellow, the young intern no doubt remembering the incident that was  _ very _ well documented on cross system broadcasts. When he next spoke, his voice was strained, like he was politely trying to hold back his laughter. “I forgot about that.” He took a second to look away from Brown’s eyes to take off the lower panel of the node. “Funny how I did because there are still memes about it. Humans have a crazy sense of humor.” 

Brown fought back a snort. A few of the memes had stolen a few chuckles from them, but nobody had to know that.  _ I fail to see how making someone, a politician of all people, quite literally piss themselves from sheer intimidation on a live broadcast would be considered funny, but humans seem to have a joke for everything. _

Black let out a sort of strangled sound as he handed Brown the screws from the panel. They tucked them safely away in a pocket before giving Black a pointed look. “Sorry, but you  _ have  _ to admit it was pretty funny. I mean  _ I _ usually would never laugh at that humor, but dammit it was funny.” 

Brown rolled their eyes.  _ Fine. I’ll admit in  _ _ hindsight _ _ it was funny. But at the time my people were convinced there was going to be a war over that incident. _

Black had another chuckle before handing them a bundle of wiring to keep out of the way as he shook the massive amount of ice out of the rest. Black popped his head out for a few seconds to ask another question. “So how are the readings you’ve gathered so far looking? I know that we can’t exactly interpret the results without the main computers working, but there’s got to be something, right?” 

_ From what I’ve seen, this planet is nothing more than a constant ice storm. I’ve analyzed some of the fronts, atmosphere, hell even the damned humidity. Everything points to this being the normal weather. I’m fairly convinced that sunny days are a rarity around here.  _

Black’s antennae dulled for a moment. “I’m no meteorologist, but I was starting to think that as well. You think we’ll ever get out of here?” 

Brown paused. There was no use in sugar-coating it; they were sure the former security guard could handle it.  _ I have no idea. The way things are going there is a small chance that things will be easy. I’m sure Pink will think of something, but with everything going the way it is, I won’t be surprised if someone doesn’t make it. _

The intern’s antennae dim more at that, a grim understanding in his yellow eyes. “Yeah. I hope it doesn’t happen, but this place is just throwing so much crap our way.” He dove back into the machinery, staying silent for a few moments and coming back out when the node’s screen faded back into existence. “That’ll hold it for a few more hours. I was originally thinking about getting one of the heaters out here, but they aren’t made for this weather either and it would skew the results no doubt.” 

_ I’m sure if we have to stay here much longer one of us will find an answer to this issue.  _ Brown stood, brushing the snow from their knees and offering a hand to Black, who remained on his knees for a few moments. 

Black sighed. “I’m worried.” He stated bluntly, the very emotion emanating from the young man’s figure. Brown could practically feel the man’s worry  _ themselves _ it was so potent. There were so many things Black was worried about and it was nearly overwhelming for Brown. He was worried about their situation. About his crewmates. About the possibility of one or more of them not making it. This is why Brown preferred solitude as to not feel other people’s emotions -their people knew how to make it so they weren’t broadcasting it to everyone. But they felt an obligation as Black was a crewmate, and one of the few people they considered a friend. After all, Black didn’t know that Brown could feel his emotions to a point it nearly  _ burned _ . Brown extended a hand to the intern, giving a slight smile.

“I’m sure it will all work out in the end.” Black’s eyes went wide as he took Brown’s hand and was pulled to his feet. Black made to speak, but it seemed he couldn’t find the words. Brown simply dipped their head before gesturing for the other to lead them to the next node.

When they got back to the ship, absolute chaos had seemingly taken control. The lights were working, but the emergency lights were flashing. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the airlock, Purple gently informed them that there had been an incident and for everyone to meet in the cafeteria. 

Black reached out for the A.I., his worry nearly debilitating due to his proximity to Brown. “What happened?” 

Purple’s display expressed more emotion than Brown thought possible for machinery. It looked… distraught. “You will find out momentarily. We believe everyone should hear this at once.” With that, the A.I. simply walked down the hall in the direction of the cafeteria. Unease worked its way into Brown’s core and their form shifted nervously under their outersuit. 

Once they had arrived in the cafeteria, the mood immediately made Brown hesitate. Purple looked over at them from where it was sitting closest to Pink -an unusual occurrence. A chime rang from their hip, a message from the A.I. 

_ You may stay on the outer edges of the meeting room if you wish. Pink understands your senses may be overwhelmed should you move any closer.  _

Brown didn’t have to be informed twice, as they took their place at the kitchen’s counter on the outer edge of the room. They noticed a distinct lack of two people and their core dropped as they realized what likely happened before the captain had to open his mouth. Pink stood from where he was sitting, placing his hands on the table as if to steady himself. Brown could hardly tell what the captain was feeling under normal circumstances, and their dread only grew when they sensed one of the only emotions that they ever had from the captain. 

Grief.

Had Brown not been sitting they would have staggered back when the captain’s eyes met theirs, even if it were only for a split second. Pink looked like he was trying to start the meeting a few times, if the audible clicking of his teeth when he shut his mouth was anything to go by. Purple rested a hand on his shoulder. Pink’s shoulders were tense, his muscles damn near twitching from the tension. He took a shaky breath, his eyes closing for a brief second before he found his voice. 

“Red,” His vocal chords seized and he had to pause, “is gone.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you things were going to pick up soon!   
> Also I'll try to have some art of the characters up sooner or later!


End file.
